This is what’s really in McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets and Redbull

If the old saying "you are what you eat" is anything to go by you should probably stop reading now.

Collaborating for the new book Ingredients, photographer Dwight Eschilman and food writer Steve Ettlinger have deconstructed some of your favourite foods into their basic ingredients in the brilliant images below. 

Ordering each individual powder and potion by the quantity found in each item, some of the key ingredients are surprising to say the least.

For example, McDonald's chicken nuggets contain the ingredient dextrose, a sugar that's used by shoe makers to make leather more pliable, and Redbull contains a synthetic substance that's effectively fake bull sperm. So now you know.

Scroll over the images below to see what each ingredient is.

McDonalds Chicken nuggets

Scroll over or touch picture to reveal ingredients

Red Bull

Scroll over or touch picture to reveal ingredients

Ingredients, a Visual Exploration of 75 Additives & 25 Food Products, is on sale at Amazon.com